Wood powered cars were quite popular during World War I but they were then discontinued from use. However they seem to be coming back and 36 year old Eugene Chernigov from Ukraine has fitted his old Opel with a wood-burning stove and a metal canister to the back of his car, which connect to the engine of the car. It is simply fascinating!
Chernigov attached a wood-burning stove and a metal canister to the back of his car, which connect to the engine of the car. The gas emitted from the wood combustion is stored into the metal canister, filtered, cooled and fed into the engine. His car consumes around 40 pounds of firewood per 100 kilometers, which costs him only 10 hryvna. By comparison, a liter of gas has an average cost of 20 hryvna. Depending on the quality of the wood used and how dry it is, the car can reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, which is pretty decent. Chernigov says that he can use plastic bottles as fuel, as well, but nothing compares to dried mulberry.
Sergey Iagoon, from the Donbass region, designed his first wood-burning car a few years ago, and says that after his success many others followed in his footsteps.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs had stated that using unregistered energy units used to power cars is against the law. Such technology has to be studied to ensure that it poses no danger either to the people in the car or others.